Barcelona Test, Day 1

Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo has ended the first day of Pre-Season Testing for 2018 on top as rain affects running in the second-half of the day.

26/02/18

Ricciardo on top as rain disrupts running

Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo kicked off the morning session in control and setting the pace at the top of the time-sheets. The Australian was closely followed by Mercedes Valterri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso had a disruptive morning as the Spaniard spun off into the gravel at the last corner. He had lost control of the car when his right rear wheel came off. McLaren have blamed a “wheel nut issue” while Alonso lost valuable running time.

It was also a solid start to the day for Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley as they racked 73 and 72 laps respectively.

Ricciardo would stay ahead after the lunch break as rain hit the Circuit de Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton took over from Bottas at Mercedes but due to the conditions, the Brit managed 25 laps.

Alonso recovered to 7th fastest with 51 laps in the Renault-powered McLaren MCL33. Carlos Sainz took over from Hulkenberg at Renault clocking 26 laps and 6th fastest overall.

Williams ran Lance Stroll in the morning session where the Canadian could manage 46 laps. New team-mate for 2018, Sergey Sirotkin, took over after lunch and completed 28 laps for the Grove outfit.

Haas and Sauber had a relatively quiet day with Romain Grosjean completing 55 laps for Haas and Marcus Ericsson completing 63 for Sauber.

Force India, who unveiled their 2018 challenger along with Toro Rosso before the day got started, ran Nikita Mazepin. Mazepin completed 22 laps all day after the Russian found the gravel trap in the morning session, only this time his spin at Turn 4.